Hemostatic bipolar electrosurgical instruments which both manipulate, or sever, and coagulate tissue are described in copending and commonly assigned U.S. patent applications Ser. Nos. 07/877,703 and 07/877,704, both filed May 1, 1992, now U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,324,289 and 5,330,471, respectively. The text of those patents is incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
The bipolar electrosurgical instruments described in the above patents have been well received in the medical community. Nevertheless, certain features of the instruments described in those patents have been found to present potential obstacles for mass production of these instruments. For example, the relatively tight tolerances required for the sliding electrical contacts employed in the endoscopic devices described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/877,704, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,330,471, have been recognized to present potential cost problems when manufactured on a large scale.
It would therefore be desirable to provide improvements in both the structure and methods of making bipolar electrosurgical instruments, for use in endoscopic and open surgery, which improve the manufacturability and durability of the bipolar instruments of the type described in the above-incorporated patents.